Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Put Me In Coach, I'm Ready To Play For The Shitty yankees

I think it was a stupid move for the yanks to keep Bernie Williams.

yankee fans have no reason to like Johnny Damon. They're not gonna come out and cheer for the face of the enemy. A-Rod and the Unit still haven't been embraced, and they never played for the Red Sox, let alone knocked the yanks out of the playoffs in their own stadium as a Red Sox very recently.

They would've had to deal with Johnny, as he's their center fielder whether they like it or not. However, keeping Bernie in town gives the fans more of an excuse to hate Johnny. They know that their beloved Bernie is right there on the bench, while they get to watch "that Bawston caveman guy" roaming his old turf. I don't see how they could not chant for Bernie while Johnny is in the game.

Even if Bernie's the DH, they'll still be able to show how they feel by giving him a standing ovation every time he comes up to bat, while booing Johnny all game long.

Which is what I want. I want him to realize what a dumb thing he did when every yankee fan and every Red Sox fan teases him 'til he develops an eating disorder.

In Jeff Reardon robbing a jewelry store news... that's right, the unassuming former Sox reliever robbed a store, giving an employee a note that said he had a gun, which he did not. He claimed medication made him do it. This is the biggest ex-Red Sox scandal since El Guapo kidnapped himself.

I think you're way off base and looking through "Jere colored" glasses. The fans there will fall in love with him at his first trot into the outfield. It hurts to say it, but his first base hit, and first even above average catch in center will result in a tremendous standing ovation. And I'll be sad.

Peter-- Good play will be cheered by the home team. But as A-Rod found out, you can't make a good play every single time. He was MVP and yankee fans basically told him to give it back. Randy was booed by yankee fans during the playoffs last year.

The only yankee fans who would like him would be the "Ha ha, we got your guy"-types, and the teenage girls. But, the ha-ha thing doesn't work after 2004, and the teenage girls aren't won't be getting any of that hair/beard action.

The one chance you've got is if they see what a hard-working, team guy Johnny is compared to A-Rod, for example. But I don't think they'll get past the Red Sox thing.

I am willing to make a wager on this. The reaction I've seen in the city is exatly what I pictured it would be for the last few years, ever since media started saying, "Damon will be a yankee when his contract expires," which is essentially "How could we root for that guy?"

Also with Clemens, there were two years where he was a Jay in between. And Clemens wasn't known to them as the guy who--well, you know what Johnny did to them. Plus, Clemens was more like the type of guy they always wished they had. Like Mo Vaughn, or Nomar.

I took an informal poll at work, and 10 of my employees, all Yankee fans, concluded almost unanamously that to compare Dora (Arod) to JD is ridiculus. They all agreed JD is immensly likeable whether he goes 0-4 or 2-3. He is a nice guy who people look at, guys AND ladies, and sorta fall in love with, in a guy way for me. Soft-spoken and never a braggert, always ready to compliment his team. I have to blog these thoughts Jer. So it will be a gentlemen's bet, or put up a poll here, you certainly will get more responses than over at mine. Let me know. I think it's a great point that you brought up, oh writing genius (and completely impartial!).

I agree that they're totally different types of players, as I said. Here's what I'm saying: Let's say any other team had gotten Johnny. They'd fall in love with him for all the same reasons we did, cheer him from the start, be psyched to have him, etc.

yankee fans, as we've seen recently with their new stars George has brought in, wouldn't just automatically take to a new guy, regardless of how good he is. So when you give them a guy who hurt them in the worst possible way, I think they'll be even less likely to take to him. Even if they do give him a chance, and cheer him right away, I think they'll be chomping at the bit to boo him at the slightest mistake, escpecially with their "real" center fielder right there on the bench.

Imagine if we'd gotten Bernie this year to start in center, and kept Johnny as a back up. No, wait, let's say we got Bucky Dent to play center. Wouldn't we all be screaming for Johnny?

It all depends on how he does coming out of the gate. If he starts out slow, fans will be quick to label him an "overrated ex Boston guy." And it will take a lot for him to win them over. If he comes out with both barrels loaded, they'll forget all about the famous grand slam. And Bernie. There's no loyalty over there.

On the other hand, maybe all Johnny needs to worry about is his performance post-All Star break, since that's generally when most Yankee fans wake up from their slumber and start watching baseball.

Yeah, it's funny how we talk about these people as if they'll actually be watching.

But Bernie really is beloved to them, mainly because he's one of the few guys who wasn't a superstar they stole from another team in the first place. (Although Steinbrenner essentially kidnapped him originally, but yankee fans don't know that.)

And, ilke I said, even if Johnny comes out on fire, they'll still be waiting to boo, like how A-Rod won the MVP but still isn't a fan favorite.

Their offense is also good enough where they really could afford to boo Johnny and root for him to do badly, because worst-case scenario, they still score their milion runs and they get their favorite, Bernie, back.

I still say you have it bass ackwards. But say if I did root for him to do well, that would be the same as rooting for the Yankees to do well, and my inner substance could never wish that team well. Time to let it be, for now. It's still 2005.

One thought- it's actually been my perception that the "former Red Sox" thing, for a guy still among his (semi) prime years, actually works in his favor. In other words, the Yankee fans that I've witnessed are excited and embracing of him out of spite, especially given all the agita that Sox fans have displayed regarding losing him. The more they love and embrace and make him their own, the more it'll sting to us. Or whatever.

I get the impression that, because he was on the other side and chose them over us, they're going to like him more for it. Performance is ultimately an equalizer, but I think the Sox thing doesn't hurt him, it helps.

I think that would be exactly right any time pre-'04. Like, they would say "Just another guy that's gonna help us win; he was good enough to be a champion, but now he gets to actually be one." That kind of thing.

And if they want to do that thing where they like him because they know it makes us mad, well, I'm not mad (again, because it's post-'04) for the "Oh no, he's gonna win with them when he couldn't with us" reason, because it doesn't exist. I'm mad because I really liked him, and it makes me want to puke blood out every orifice to think of him in pinstripes.

(I say "think" instead of "see" because I look away really fast whenever a picture of the new Johnny pops up anywhere.)

I guess I'm just thinking they're basically not gonna really grow attached to any of the new guys until they actually win another championship. Except for guys who do steroids, oddly enough.

If they want to love their CF, they will embrace him as long as he's productive (Yankee fans turned hard on Giambi, only to welcome back his command of the strike zone post tumor).However, Bernie Williams is a class act with post season credentials of the year in, year out variety. He will be loved when he's gone (by Yankee shame). Unless Damon does something, he will be forgotten like Al leiter.

I am a Boston fan.Johnny Damon got us our first World Series and I will continue to root for him in New York.I mean,really,there is nothing for us to mad about.We waited eighty seven years,and now that we finally got our wish,what is there to be mad about??